There’s Something Missing From Our Bibles

This past week, my small group spent most of the time discussing Philippians 1:6.  I came away thinking that the basic idea of the verse is that, no matter what may be happening, God is not finished with you yet.  The verse, a much over-quoted one, says it this way:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (ESV)

We got to talking about some Scriptural analogies for this, things like Job and some personal life experiences and I got to thinking about a little story about a man named Tobit.

Personal Statement of Faith

I was asked by a church I have applied at for a youth minister position to give them a statement of faith.  So, I’ve decided to share that here for your enjoyment and discussion.

I Think John Piper Is Wrong

I love the writings of John Piper.  Simply love them.  I have rarely found something that I disagree with.  My issues, when I have them, tend to be in matters of how he says something or some of the implications in how he says things.  But rarely do I have an issue with him in matters of theology.  Until recently.

Nothing New

One of the prerequisites for being involved with, and even becoming a member of, the church that my family has started attending is being a part of a small group.  This is a pretty common idea in the modern church, and one which I am glad has become so normal.  The idea of a church calling themselves a “church of small groups,” while cliche, is something that I applaud.  I think it more truly embodies the goal that the early church had in mind than the push to be bigger and more cutting edge and state-of-the-art that was so popular a few years back.

So, I got involved in a small group.

Moving Mountains

As my wife and I have been reading through William Barclay’s commentary on the Gospel of Mark, we have found a lot of interesting things, most of which occur within his comments on various passages of Scripture.  But the other day, I noticed something that he did in his own translation of the passage that seemed to me to drastically change what Jesus was saying.  It was something that I actually had to do some further study myself on to make sure that what I was seeing was actually there.

Book Review: The Bible – A Biography

Generally speaking, your typical Conservative Christian doesn’t think of Karen Armstrong when seeking a picture of modern biblical scholarship.  Interestingly enough, they probably should.  Your most Conservative Christians interested in any form of scholarship are Calvinists, and, according to Karen Armstrong,

Calvin was convinced that the Bible had been written for simple, unlettered people and had been stolen from them by the scholars.  But he realized that they would need guidance.  Preachers must be well read in rabbinical and patristic exegesis and acquainted with contemporary scholarship. They must always see a biblical passage in its original context but at the same time they must make the Bible relevant to the daily needs of their congregations.
(Karen Armstrong.  The Bible: A Biography.  New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press.  2007.  165-166. Emphasis mine.)

Karen Armstrong is definitely familiar with contemporary biblical scholarship, and this is one of the things that makes The Bible: A Biography such an interesting and useful read, especially for the conservative Christian.

Ethics and Subjectivity

When I posed my question the other day, I thought there would be more response than there was.  That is okay, though.  What responses I did get were instrumental in my writing this post and continuing the discussion briefly.  This also plays into a topic I hinted at a few posts back about Jesus and His view of Scripture, the Law in particular.

A Question of Ethics

I am all for helping people.  In fact, I think that, as Christians, we should help people indiscriminately.  Jesus doesn’t really lay out any sort of list of who we should and shouldn’t help.  But I do think that He lays out a priority.  Jesus seems to say and show by His actions that we should help those who need help the most first.  This isn’t an easy decision to make, and I’m not going to try to lay out an ethic for you.  I am only going to pose a question that I have been pondering today on this topic and let you discuss it.

Who is in need of more help, and therefore deserving of our first priority: a lying, stealing, drug-using jerk or an infant?

Why I Offend People

It seems recently that I have been saying some things that have really been causing people to take offense.  While this has not been my intention, it has been occurring nonetheless.  I think, though, that the things that people are taking offense at stem from a misunderstanding of my heart on these matters.  So, I am going to take a few moments and explain where my statements come from.

Book Review: The Birth of Satan

T. J. Wray and Gregory Mobley present us with a synopsis of the history of Satan within the Judeo-Christian tradition in their concise book The Birth of Satan: Tracing the Devil’s Biblical Roots.